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29 April 2019

A Bit of Shakespeare

Macbeth


The Great Bed of Ware 
England, 1590-1600
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
The Great Bed of Ware has long been famous for its size: twice the size of a modern double bed. As early as 1601, Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Nights described a sheet as 'big enough for the bed of Ware'. Over three metres wide, it regularly slept four couples but probably not 'twenty-six butchers and their wives' as sometimes claimed. The bed has long been part of local -and museum- folklore.


Postcards sent by Laura (UK), added to my Shakespeare album.

2 comments:

  1. But how do you get the Bed of Ware upstairs????

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    Replies
    1. When you own a palace you don't worry about those small details, I guess :D

      By the way, in our palace, getting a double bed upstairs is impossible, and it is also impossible to enter on through the balcony. So our bed now is actually two individual beds together!

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